Reds agree to new deal with closer Iglesias

Cincinnati Reds closer Raisel Iglesias agreed Wednesday to a three-year contract guaranteeing $24,125,000, a deal that avoided arbitration.

Iglesias reached a $27 million, seven-year agreement in 2014 that allowed him to void the remainder of the deal once he was eligible for salary arbitration. That agreement called for $5 million salaries in each of the next two seasons.

He made $4.5 million this year, when he had a careerhigh 30 saves in 34 chances and a 2.38 ERA.

Rather than having him eligible for arbitration each season, the Reds offered a restructured deal that gives both sides certainty.

“If he does what we’ve seen him do over the next three years, there’s all sorts of ways he can outperform these numbers,” Reds president of baseball operations Dick Williams said. “Obviously both sides are taking on some risk here, and both sides getting paid to take on some risk.”

The Reds, trying to emerge from a massive rebuild that left them with three consecutive 90-loss seasons, hired David Bell as their manager in the offseason.

Tennis

Two Italians who previously were ranked in the top 50 have been banned for match-fixing at an ATP event in Barcelona in 2011. Daniele Bracciali, who is still an active player, was banned for life and fined $250,000. Potito Starace, who has retired, was banned from any future involvement in the sport for 10 years and fined $100,000.

Golf

The 2019 Vic Open, scheduled for Feb. 7-10 in Melbourne, Australia, will be co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour and will feature men and women playing simultaneously.

Auto racing

Santino Ferrucci was hired to drive full time for Dale Coyne’s IndyCar team in 2019. The American competed in four races last season with Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais as his teammate on Coyne’s team.